Global Warming Is More Than an "Inconvenient Truth"

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How are we doing in our responses to global warming?

"Awful!" said most kids who participated in our recent poll. That answer earned twice as many votes as "Great!" and "OK" combined.

Whether on the Kids' Environmental Report Card or elsewhere on the Web, the subject of global warming has become a hotly debated topic. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the effects of global warming are getting steadily worse.

Even a slight change in the earth's temperature could have disastrous results — everything from rising sea levels to massive die-offs of animals and plants — the IPCC says. However, many people, including some scientists, argue that such effects are exaggerated. Who's right?

You Decide

"Look at the evidence and decide for yourself," one poster on the Save the Planet message board wrote. "Once you make that choice stay with it, and don't let anything but the evidence change your mind."

During the polling period, many kids logged on to Save the Planetto talk about the movie An Inconvenient Truth. This feature-length film about the perils of climate change won an Oscar for best documentary of 2006. This year, the film's spokesperson, former Vice President Al Gore, and the IPCC received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to spread the word about climate change.